The spectacular collapse of one LCS favorite ends with a whimper in 2023 Summer’s last week

The hype train has officially been derailed.

The 2023 LCS Summer Split stage during FlyQuest and Golden Guardians' game.
Photo by Colin Young-Wolff via Riot Games

After pulling off one of the biggest roster acquisitions of the mid-season break, one of the most-hyped teams in North American League of Legends has not only sputtered out of the 2023 LCS Summer Split, but has fallen out of contention for the 2023 World Championship entirely.

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FlyQuest has been eliminated from Summer playoff contention today after 100 Thieves’ win over NRG, even with one game left to play in the regular season. The Thieves secured a 2-0 record over the boys in green over the course of the summer, giving them the head-to-head victory in the event of a tie in the standings.

Before the year began, FlyQuest was considered a surefire contender for the LCS trophy, especially after bringing together a juggernaut lineup last offseason. With veteran stars like Impact and Spica joining rising talents like Prince and VicLa, many were quick to jump on the bandwagon for the league’s resident green team.

For the first half of the 2023 Spring Split, the new roster was undoubtedly the best team in the NA league. They managed to go undefeated all the way until week four, before suddenly losing a bit of form in the second half of the season.

This culminated in a surprise playoff loss to Golden Guardians, who eventually surprised the competition by becoming the second-best team in the region.

During the mid-season break, FlyQuest made a huge move by signing superstar veteran Vulcan to round out their roster with a proven, championship-level support who could add a reliable source of engage and shotcalling.

After failing to win a single game through the opening weeks though, it became clear something wasn’t clicking.

Related: Spica weighs in on FlyQuest’s LCS issues and how the team is fixing them: ‘We made each other worse’

In an interview with Dot Esports, the team’s jungler Spica admitted the level of skill was never the issue, and that individual players were “just not listening to each other.” Communication issues and lack of synergy made this season hard to battle through, and unfortunately, it has led to an abrupt end to their competitive season.

Now, FLY must regroup for next year, especially with the number of questions they’ll be levying towards their coaching and roster building.

Expect major changes for FLY’s roster in the 2024 League offseason.

Author
Image of Tyler Esguerra
Tyler Esguerra
Lead League of Legends writer for Dot Esports. Forever an LCS supporter, AD carry main, with more than five years in the industry. Sometimes I like clicking heads in Call of Duty or VALORANT. Creator of the Critical Strike Podcast.